Electric sighting attachment for gun barrels



J. M. RICHARDS ELECTRIC SIGHTING' ATTACHMENT FOR GUN BARRELS 2Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 5, 1946 Inventor .Jbh'w MA Pic/4A EDS A 1949-J. MRICHARDS 2,479,262

I ELECTRIC SIGH'fING ATTACHMENT FOR GUN BARRELS Filed Aug. 5, 1946 2Sheets-Sheet 2 LIGHT Fk'am 727657 f 49 'IllllIlI/Ill A B) y f M I, I: I

W E k Attorneys Patented Aug. 16, 1949 uNrrso STATES, PAT NT" OFFICEELECTRIC sicn'rmc ATTACHMENT FOB- GUN BARRELS John Mark Richards,Ferndale, Mich. Application August 3, 1946, SerialNo. 688,376 r Thisinvention relates to new and useful improvements and structuralrefinements in sights forfir'earms', and the principal object of theinvention 'is to providea device of. thecharacter herein described,such'v as maybe effectively and conveniently employed for the precisionsightin of the target. V

A further object of the invention is to provide a sight for firearmswhich may be employed, without modification, on various types of shotguns, rifles, and the like. Y

Another object of the invention is to provide a sight for firearms whichcan be quickly and easily mounted on the gun with which it is used. I eAn additional object of the invention is to provide a sight for firearmswhich is simple inconstruction andoperation.

A still further object of the invention is to p vide a sight forfirearms which will readily lend itself to economical manufacture.

With the above more important objects in view, and such other objects asmay become apparent as this specification proceeds, the inventionconsists essentially of the arrangement and constructionof parts asillustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure- 1 is a sideelevation of the gun barrel, showing the invention in situ thereon,.

t Figure 2 is an end view of the invention, taken substantially in theplane of the line 2-2 in Figure 1,-

Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view, taken substantially in the plane ofthe line 3-3 in Figure 1,

Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view; taken substantially in the plane ofthe line 4-4 in Figure 2,

Figure 5 is an enlarged, cross-sectional view of aportion of theinvention,

Figure 6 is an enlarged, cross-sectional view of another portionthereof,

Figure '7 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the operation of thesight, and

Figure 8 is a plan view of a transparent mirror used in the inventionLike characters of reference are used to designate like parts in thespecification and throughout the several views.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings in detail, the inventionconsists of a sight designated generally by the reference character I,the same embodying in its construction an elongated housing I l forminga substantially cylindrical chamber [2, one end of the housing carryinga 55 configuration of scams. (0!. as-2.3)

removable cap [3 which is secured thereto by a plurality of suitablebolts l 4. The cap i3 is provided with an insulated insert l5 whichforms a s'eat for an electric lamp Hi. This lamp is removably mounted ina socket ll, the latter being removably receivable in the cap [3'andbeing provided with an externally disposed, knurled head Ill. Thecurrent is delivered to the lamp by means of a suitable conductor I9which passes through the apertures 20 provided in the cap l3 andin'theinsert I5. ,I i

The end of the housing ll adjacent the cap I3 is formed with acounter-bore 2| adapted to receive adisc 22, this being formed at thecenter thereof with an opening 23. It will be noted that this opening isdisposed in alignment withthe filament of the lamp I6 and the openingwill be hereinafter referred to as the recticle.

The remaining end of the housing ll carries an extension 24, thisassuming the form of a sub- 7 block and being provided with acylindrical bore 25 toreceive the end ,portion' of the housing ll. AU-shaped retaining member 21 provided with substantially triangular sideplates 28 is secured to the extension 24 by means of the screws 29. Theside plates 28 are provided with marginal flanges 30, these beingemployed for retaining a prism 31 on theextension 24, as is bestillustrated in the accompanying Figures 1, 4 and 5.

Theextension 24 is also provided with a screwthreaded bore 32, thisextending at right angles with respect to'the aforementioned bore l2 ofthe housing H, the bore 32 being adapted to removably receive anexternally threaded socket 33 This socket serves as mounting means for asimple, positive, achromatic lens 34, the purpose of which willhereinafter be more fully explained. A bracket designated generally bythe reference character 35' is configurated substantially as shown andincludes a pairof spaced parallel side arms 36, these straddling theaforementioned extension block 24 and being secured thereto by means ofsuitable screws 31. The bracket 35 also includes an extension plate 38,this being suitably angulated and secured by means of further screws 39to the barrel 40 of the gun with which the sight is associated. In thismanner, the entire sight is rigidly mounted upon the barrel and it willbe noted that the axis of the chamber I2 is disposed in parallel to theaxis of the barrel. With reference to the accompanying Figures 2 and 3,it will be also noted that the housing II is positioned at one side ofthe barrel 40 and the the extension plate 38 is such stantiallyrectangular been already set forth, and the conductor 19 is connected tosuitable batteries (not shown) such as may be conveniently housed in thegun stock 43 or carried upon the person of, the user.

The light rays emanating from the lamp l 6 will pass through the reticle23 as at 44 in Figure 5'7, whereupon they will be directed by the prism3i to pass throughthe lens 34; The chamber H together with the lens 34will collimate the light rays into a parallel beam 46 which will projectan image of the reticle .23 upon the mirror 42.

This image will be reflected by the mirror as at 41 to the observerseye48 and at the same time, a line of sight from the target will passthrough the mirror 42 to the eye, as is indicated at 49.

It will :be apparent that 'in this manner, the line of sight 49 will becoordinated with the reflected rays 41, more specifically, with theimage produced upon the mirror .42, so that the image will appear to theobserver as being superimposed upon and in .focus withth-e target. Sincethe rays 44 and 41 are parallel to the line of sight 49, the bore of thegun barrel will, of course, be aimed directly at the target.

It should be added that no adjustments are necessary to compensate forvariations in the distance of the eye 48 from the mirror 42 or fromthe-target, andthat the position of the eye 48 need not be accuratelycentered with respect to the beam 47. It will be found that the eye 48may, in effect, .be moved anywhere with respect to-the central axis'oftherays 41,.within a circle ofthe samediameter as the diameter of thelens 34.

The mirror 42 is of elliptical configuration so as to appear circularwhen viewed in the angulated position in which it is mounted, themounting of the mirror being effected in any suitable manner, asexemplified in the drawings by the snap ring 50.

-It is believed that the advantages and use oi the invention will beclearly understood from the foregoing disclosure andaccordingly,-further description thereof at this point is consideredunnecessary. 1

While in the foregoing there has ,been shown and described the preferredembodiment of this 4 invention it is to be understood that minor changesin the details of construction, combination and arrangement of parts maybe resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention as claimed.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. A sight for firearms comprising an anchor member fixed to a gunbarrel and projecting outwardly and downwardly therefrom, a supportremovably carried by the anchor member and having a socketed endportion, a housing slidably engaging the socketed end portion of saidsupport, means carried by said support for adjustably securing thehousing relative thereto, a source of light mounted in said housing, areticle adjacent the source of light, a transparent mirror carried bythe anchor member, a prism carried by the support, and a lens carried bythe support adjacent' the prism for collimating light rays from thesource to project an image of said reticle on said mirror, said mirrorbeing disposed above the barrel of a gun.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein said ,mirror is of an ellipticalconfiguration and is inclined relative to the longitudinal axis of thehousing to appear circular when viewed in the angulated position inwhich it is disposed.

3. A sight for firearms comprising an anchor member fixed to a gunbarrel and projecting outwardly and downwardly therefrom, a supportremovably carried by the anchor member and having a socketed endportion, an open end cylindrical housing having one .end slidably andadjustably positioned in the socketed end portion of said support, a capremovably secured to the remaining end portion of said housing, a boreprovided in said cap terminating in an enlarged annular recess, anonconductive ring positioned in the recess, a disc recessed in one, endof the housing and engaging the non-conductive ring, said disc having anopening therein forming a reticle, a lamp bulb supporting memberremovably positioned in the bore provided in said cap, saidnon-conductive ring embracing the lamp bulb supportingmember, a prismcarried by the support, a transparent mirror carried by the anchormember, and a lens carried by the'support adjacent the mirrorforcollimating light rays from a lamp carried by the lamp bulbsupporting member to project an image of said reticle on said mirror.

I JOHN MARK RICHARDS.

REFERENCES CITED UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Grubb Sept. 24, 1901Number

